Vehicle cargo areas provide a convenient means of storing and hauling various items. For cargo areas such as pickup truck beds and the like, regardless of the size of the vehicle the usable cargo space is finite and limited by the cargo area dimensions. Moreover, such cargo areas can be limited in terms of the types of cargo they can safely carry. Typically, the only OEM devices provided for a cargo area are tie-downs mounted on a cargo area side and/or top rail.
Users of vehicles with cargo areas such as pickup truck beds often want to carry a variety of items, some of which are not amenable to simply placing in the bed and/or attaching to a provided tie-down. Often, the items to be carried required specialized accessory racks to prevent item travel and associated potential damage. Still more, users may wish to extend the carrying capacity of the cargo area. Conventional solutions for these problems, while potentially effective for their intended purpose, tend to focus on cargo carrying area/capacity at the expense of considerations such as vehicle aerodynamics, which in turn potentially compromises fuel efficiency. Alternative locations for cargo accessory racks such as vehicle roof panels can be effective, but are inconvenient for the user. Also, placing items on a vehicle roof, along with potentially compromising vehicle aerodynamics and attendant fuel efficiency, effectively increases the vehicle height. This can create issues when passing into/through structures with low overhangs such as parking garages, residence garage entryways, etc.
To solve this and other problems, the present disclosure is directed to an accessory support comprising a side-mounted adjustable rail for a vehicle cargo area such as a pickup bed side panel. Conveniently, the described side-mounted adjustable rail attaches to existing attachment sites such as manufacturer-provided tie down or cleat apertures disposed on or in the pickup bed. The accessory support conveniently provides vehicle-inboard/outboard and up/down adjustability, and can be used alone or with other rail or rack systems to carry a variety of accessories and items.